Public Purchases and Local Development: Micro and Small Local Companies in the Bidding of a Public University in Minas Gerais

Abstract

The acquisitions of goods and services carried out by the State play a fundamental role for the functioning of the public machine in the effectiveness of policies and functions assumed by the public sector. Within this context, the relevant role of micro and small enterprises (SMEs) in national economies cannot be denied. The State can use its purchasing power to foster and develop this segment of the economy by creating public policies to favor SMEs in government bids. In this line, the objective of the present study was to analyze the influence of local and regional SMEs in the bidding events of a public university in Minas Gerais, from 2015 to 2017. The exploratory and descriptive research was operationalized with data collected in public secondary sources and systematized through statistics descriptive. The results of the survey indicate that, despite a significant increase in the number of SMEs contracted with public administration, local companies represented less than 1% of the total purchases of the public organization under investigation. It was concluded that the existing gaps in the legislation dealing with the prerogatives granted to SMEs in government hiring generate difficulties in the applicability of such benefits, making the use of bidding as a complex public policy instrument. The results indicate the need for normative advances and intensification in the research on the use of the purchasing power of the State as a potential inducer of regional and local development.